Israel and Iran seem to have both backed away from an open war. That result was certainly welcomed by Washington (ever fearful of having American troops involved). One item I just learned shows how much the Iranians were afraid of the Israeli response before it occurred. IRGC personnel in Iraq and Syria left the installations where they handled Iranian arms transfers (especially to Hezbollah) out of fear that an Israeli attack might be aimed at them. They are probably back now that tensions are subsiding.
The US House of representatives passed a major funding bill to give Israel (and Taiwan and Ukraine) billions of dollars, Most of the money will be spent in the US for purchase of munitions. The US has already given a lot of ammunition to Israel, even to the extent of taking some from American contingency reserves (leaving American forces below their readiness level).
Other restrictions were added to the bill which barred any of the funds from going to Hamas or to UNRWA. (those limits were not in the original Senate version).
The US is expected to sanction an IDF unit, the Netzah Yehuda battalion, barring it from receiving US weapons or participating in joint training. The reason is alleged human rights violations by unit members when serving in the West Bank. Israel had already indicted some of them and transferred the unit out of the West Bank in December, 2022.
The battalion is made up of only ultra-orthodox soldiers and former yeshiva students, many of them followers of the extreme Israeli Right Wing political parties. The report on the expected sanctions may have come from a leak to a right wing reporter. Some parts of the story do not appear valid. Sanctions against a group for behavior of some of it’s’ members looks like collective punishment. The US has sanctioned individual Israelis in the past, but not a group, and especially not one where Israel has already taken steps against individuals known to have been involved (it is also likely that many others who may not have been indicted have since completed their required service and are probably no longer in the battalion).
Wetherhorn 